The present invention relates generally to EKG and patient monitoring systems, and in more particularity to telephonic electrocardiogram monitoring.
Transtelephonic EKG monitoring has become routine for patients with implanted pacemakers. Typically, such monitoring is short-term, and involves the patient contacting the physician by phone, and employing an EKG transmitter of the type described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,151,513, issued to Menken et al. Use of such device typically requires the patient to apply EKG electrodes to his or her body, and to subsequently couple the monitoring device to their telephone to allow for a brief period of monitoring.
Long-term monitoring has typically been accomplished by means of a holter monitor, or similar device, which stored long sequences of EKG strips either on magnetic tape or in a digital memory as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,360,030 issued to Citron et al. With such systems, the physician typically does not have the ability to monitor the patient's condition in real time. As such, when long-term real time monitoring is required, patients often must remain in the hospital.